In February 2015 three teenage girls went 'missing' from the UK, reportedly travelling to Syria to join Islamic State.

Saturday the Daily Express reports the girls are now 'married' to approved ISIS fighters and have been pictured brandishing weapons; the 'marriage' of each was a ceremony approved by Isis authorities

"Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15 were captured shopping for groceries under the close guard of Islamic State heads in Raqqa."

The latest from the girl’s families is that two of the teenage girls have contacted home and confirmed their marriages.

In Raqqa after they crossed the border from Turkey earlier this year they were kept under house-arrest until they were trained and trusted by the terror organisation.

There are however conflicting reports that the teens want to escape but are trapped by fear; the fate of defectors is death and a gruesome one at that.

Glasgow woman Aqsa Mahmood, 20, is believed to have inspired or encouraged on social media the three missing teens to leave home and join her in Syria. Mahmood left the UK to become a Jihadi bride in Syria in 2013.

Within days of leaving home in 2015 all three young women were reportedly either in Syria or on their way there having followed Mahmood's lead.

Speaking on British TV in February the former foreign secretary of the UK, William Hague, put his spin on news the girls had crossed into Syria. When challenged as to how these young girls could leave the UK without being noticed by border agency staff or government spies in the UK he tried to shift blame.

Hague reminded the interviewer that people in the UK have objected to government plans for wider snooping on citizens online saying in this case the girls travel is ultimately the responsibility of the airlines.

But the fact is social media accounts used by Aqsa Mahmood were already monitored by government agents in the UK. She was already deemed a terrorist by British authorities.

A message by Mahmood on Twitter, sent on 15 February, two days before the schoolgirls left London said: "Follow me so I can dm (direct message) you back".

The families of the three girls begged them to come home while the family of Mahmood called her a disgrace. Mahmood's family accused the authorities of failing the girls noting that at least one had contact on Twitter with her daughter.

Were the girls simply assessed as just silly girls?

PM David Cameron promised to do what he could to help return the girls home but four months later they remain with ISIS.

There have been calls for families to take passports away from girls at risk.

Aamer Anwar speaking to the media on behalf of Mahmood's family accused the British authorities of being guilty of "exporting terror" to Iraq and Syria by their failure to act.

If the girls are married to ISIS fighters surely there are now 'lost' forever.

Young people in general, not only girls, are susceptible to the allure of the gang mentality used by ISIS as a recruitment mechanism. They promise them acceptance, fraternity, money, jobs and even love.

While those of us who deplore ISIS would rather believe the girls was taken against their will, chances are they went voluntarily. We cannot underestimate ISIS use of social media to recruit. I saw one documentary reporting there are many young people with ISIS, perhaps thousands, recruited from around the world.

The best thing we can do is reveal ISIS for what they really are and rebuke their motives by attaching their cause to Muslim purity---which it most definitely is not.

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